President Barack Obama is trying anything he can "to keep American-made energy in the ground" through his policies on the EPA and plans to tax oil, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise said in Saturday's
GOP address.
"We will continue to use every tool we have to fight President Obama’s war on American energy and jobs," the Louisiana Republican said.
"We need to maximize America’s energy potential to help create jobs, keep costs down, and strengthen our national security," Scalise said. "That’s why we’ve blocked the president’s attempts to expand the EPA." This week alone, Obama has proposed a $65 billion a year tax that would raise the cost of gasoline by about 25 cents a gallon, Scalise said. In some states, gas is heading to around the dollar a gallon mark, giving families extra money.
But the tax would not only hit gas tanks, but would also increase the costs of heating oil, groceries and more.
"The bottom line is this: you would be taking home less, so that President Obama can spend more," said Scalise. "That’s why we have declared this absurd proposal dead on arrival in Congress."
The Supreme Court this week also blocked the EPA climate rule that has destroyed jobs, said Scalise.
"In my home state of Louisiana alone, we would suffer more than 16,000 jobs lost, and families would see increases of more than 20 percent in their household electricity costs," said Scalise about the plan which limits the use of coal.
"We’ve lifted the 40-year ban on oil exports, and we passed a plan for an all-of-the-above energy strategy," he said, promising that Republicans will "keep advancing more bold ideas like these in the coming months."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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